JISC

Summary

The JISC-funded MaDAM (Manchester Research Data Management Service) Project developed a pilot Research Data Management Service for biomedical researchers at the University of Manchester.  At the conclusion of MaDAM, a number of barriers were in place to a fully-supported Research Data Management Infrastructure (RDMI) for the Institution:

• While MaDAM had attempted to develop a generic service, only the requirements of biomedical researchers had actually been taken into account.
• The technical service produced by MaDAM was not hosted within a recognised sustainable University Service infrastructure (which is currently being determined via the Manchester Working Environment (MWE) Project).
• The necessary institutional policy and human support infrastructure was not in place.

These barriers indicated a need for a transitional project in order to establish the University’s RDMI, based around the outcomes of MaDAM.

MiSS (MaDAM into Sustainable Service) will build on the achievements of the MaDAM pilot project to deliver a sustained RDMI – supporting the whole data life cycle according to researchers’ needs – across the University of Manchester. Alongside the provision of the technical infrastructure for data capture, storage, data curation, access management, publishing, discovery and re-use, the project will also address the development of the necessary human support infrastructure through a series of community and capacity building measures, implement a University-wide research data management policy and establish a business plan for the sustainability of the RDMI. To be able to meet the generic needs and discipline specific needs appropriate to all users within The University of Manchester, use case groups of leading researchers attached to core facilities have been recruited from each faculty.

The project will incorporate the following: requirements capture and evaluation, evolution of MaDAM technical architecture, integration into wider UoM IS strategy, training and capacity building, human support infrastructure development including the governance mechanisms, data management policy and University Data Management Plan development, post MiSS service roll-out, sustainability planning and internal and external dissemination.

The aim is to handover a fully-supported service to the service owner within the University Library at the conclusion of the MiSS Project.

Objectives

• to provide a lifecycle-wide generic research data management infrastructure, suitable for use across the institution,
• to provide tailored resources, where necessary, in order to support the needs of the academic champion groups associated with the project,
• to work closely with the academic champion groups to ensure the infrastructure is fit for purpose,
• to develop and ratify the business case for the sustained infrastructure
• to develop and ratify an Institutional Research Data Management Policy
• to establish the technical service and human support infrastructure needed to sustain the infrastructure prior to the end of the project,
• to disseminate project findings within the local, and wider JISC community.
  

Anticipated Outputs and Outcomes

The project will deliver:

• a fully sustained Research Data Management Infrastructure,
• a service hosted within a technically sustainable ITS Service Infrastructure,
• a service support team for the technical service, supported by an agreed business case
• a human infrastructure for RDM encompassing all faculties,
• an implemented Research Data Management Policy for the UoM in support of the anticipated outcomes:
• improved Research Data Management Practices within UoM,
• easy-to-trace compliance to legal and funder obligations,
• an increase in availability of shared research data from UoM sources,
• a contribution of UoM experiences to the wider JISC-community.